Adaptation
by Caligraphy
Summary: Ben and Gwen and thrown from their universes into the unique and divided Monster universe. As two Normie looking "monster" they have fin a way to deal with this new world and eventually find a way home, but the question that neither wants to answer is even possible?
1. Chapter 1

Gwen and Ben felt the ground tilt beneath their feet. It was strange, disconcerting and made bile rise up their throats. Ben made a desperate grab for the Omnitrix's inventor and watching with horror filled eyes as they began to fade from view as swirling, vaguely psychedelic colours over took his vision. The only solid thing in the cousin's view was each other so they grabbed desperately onto one another.

The various pieces of technology that Ben had been studying under the Galvan's watchful eye only a few scant moment ago, began to disintegrate under the pressures the vortex was creating. The bag that swung on Gwen's hip, did better though if she hadn't been so scared the 12 year old may have noticed the faint smell of smoke from some of the more delicate magical equipment amongst the various school books and magazines she had taken with her.

Then with a sudden pop the cousins were deposited on the ground, unceremoniously dumped. The cousins who were both on adrenaline highs were immediately on their feet no one around lost the strength of their legs and fell to the floor, Gwen even went as far as to throw the contents of her stomach up onto the earthy floor. If the cousins had been aware they might have noticed how alone they were.

Gwen having finished heaving had the prosperity to see her cousin go still and then…scream. It was a scream of agony that made her want to crawl into a small ball and drown the sound out with her pillow. But there was no pillow and the source was her annoying dweebish cousin who shared the rare and precious secret of her magic and the existence of Aliens. The cousin who had driven all across America in a lumpy, should-be-dead RV, fondly dubbed the Rust Bucket. The cousin who had suffered through their grandpa Max's vile interpretation of food. The cousin who had fought Squid alien, weird mother Kraken and messed up Clowns.

She crawled over to him, and flipped him onto his back and tried to find the source of his torture. She checked all over his body and it wasn't until she had grabbed his head did she find the source – the translator that he'd completed under Azimuth's tutoring was partially melted into his skull the wires fizzing with deadly malice. Heart in her throat Gwen did the only thing she could think of, She grabbed his wrist and twisted the dial until the upgrade icon appeared. Slamming it down she had failed to notice the damage had done to the Omnitrix itself. It was strange, the fragmented pieces split and cracked, the actual panelling to the highly dangerous device completely gone and the glowing green energy puncturing his wrists and sending the fluid directly into his blood.

Eventually the shift occurred and instead of Ben Tenyson, the Galvanic Mechamorp stood in its place, the tech imbedded in its head was immediately absorbed and altered the tech in his head after fixing the problem the Omnitrix timed out in flash of red light leaving back a now unconscious Ben. The shift had not reversed completely and Gwen after four fevered minutes Gwen realized what had happened, piecing together, Bens altered state with that of the mutated watch, which was no more glove like. Green laser colored lines spread out in a rectangular network across his body, over his chest and along his arms. Similar patterns were wrapped around his legs and feet, though majority of his face was unmarked, though he had two green scores just under his eyes. Her hand quaking in fear slightly, Gwen forced Ben's eyes open and was relieved to see the same, albeit unusual, Green eyes that she too possessed.

Gwen finally took a moment to see her surroundings and felt more fear settle in the empty pit of her stomach. Instead of the advanced but beautiful Galvan mark II laboratory. Around them stood Canadian reds, or some variant of Canadian Reds, whose trunks seemed to touch the sky, with the fading light of sun barely able to invade the trees knotted leaf canopy to the damp ground. They were in the middle of nowhere, without a single spark of human light pollution. An unearthly howl split the air and Gwen began to shake. Protection and shelter, her subconscious spat, interrupting her unresponsive state with commands. Said commands had her diving for her no longer smoking bag and pulling out a still undamaged spell book she had stolen from Charm Caster little over two years ago. With a level of concentration that beguiled her age Gwen began the well practed motions associated with the spells before her and set about creating a natural shelter in the forest clearing they were in, it wouldn't be sensible to make Ben move when she still didn't know all the implications those green markings. From the earth she called the roots of the trees to form a protecting dome around them, from the ground itself she called for the formation of a bed for the both of them. With a muted word a blazing flame formed in palm and hung in a small hole their impact had helped form. Now with shelter, warmth and protection, Gwen finally allowed her anxiety induced exhaustion to take hold and fell asleep on her mound of soft earth.

A pattern had begun to immerge by the third day. Ben would spend the morning rummaging the forest in his Wildmutt form, searching for the foods his sensitive nose deemed safe whilst Gwen spent the mornings searching through her notebook for any reference to portals. In the afternoons they would switch, Ben using his now highly advanced tech state (which needed no transformation for after upgrade had melded the advanced hardware into his mind) to search nearby data waves in an attempt to find and understand their surroundings. Gwen would go about collecting Mana and herbs her book specified as helpful. In the late evenings when the creatures of the forest seemed to wake up the cousins would fight volatile battles that seemed to give the right impression the fauna as none had come anywhere near the camp.

Gwen and Ben, who'd normally be at each other's throats (figuratively and literally) seemed to recognize the dire straits they were in a tried their best to keep one another's spirits up or just generally distract them. Ben had also recognized the need to avoid randomly storming off, in the general direction of the nearest civilization point due to the numerous amounts of data he had gathered. From he could and had discovered the world they were on was similar or parallel to earth, with portions of the earth identical to their own with a few stark differences. There was no alien or plumber activity for one, the planet had various other "supernatural" or "sci-fi" activity to replace it. There seemed to be two separate factions humans, or "Normies" who considered themselves as the original residents of earth; They were or had identical developments of their own earth on a technological level with IPhone and computers in high use. Theoretically speaking they were also equivalent though they seemed to have a much higher tolerance level for other variants of humans then a majority of earth – as to say that skin tone and sexuality or gender weren't that much of a divided topic.

The other group were the para-normal or "monsters. Numbers wise they were about a third of the human population but they had a much longer lifespan than their counter parts. They shared the same land as that of the Normies but lived in different sectors of said areas – for instance Paris had a completely different sector dubbed Scaris though still possessed all the trademark "Fashion, food and fame" that its equivalent had. They were also much more diverse in terms of appearance and used slang words that varied from Freaky Fabulous to Undead cool. However the monster community was pretty divided other than its mutual dislike of Normies. The werewolves hated the Vampires, the undead (spirit variety) hated the undead (immortal variety), salt water underwater creatures hated Fresh waters and there so many other "traditional divides".

It was terrifying to say the least, as both cousins knew they would never both be accepted by either community as Ben now looked too different and Gwen used her powers with too high a frequency (she had reached a stage in her practice where she could go days with food by feeding off the Mana and energy inherent in the forest). In the monster community they would resemble Normies too much to really be accepted and could face discrimination that neither wanted to endure. So as it stood neither of the 12 year olds wanted to venture out of the forest that they resided in and were unsure if they would ever leave


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Strangers

Clawd watched with overt fascination as the two Normie looking kids easily navigated the sun filled woods that even his dad was careful about wondering into. They were completely confident, not even bothering to glance at their feet, simply jumping over the creeping vines that made the decidedly cheery wood, a designated monster territory.

Careful, to not get caught in the plants which sprung up everywhere he stepped, Clawd shadowed the kids, careful to keep his scent upwind and his movements quiet. He'd been watching them for weeks now, after spotting them when out in the crawler thickets trying to find his favourite baseball. He'd run back to his house telling his parents about it but they had simply laughed at the mere notion. Normie kids in Crawler thicket? Romulus's dad had gone as far as to mock him when he overheard the 12 year olds furious ramblings. But knew what he saw and sure enough there they were, the very next day. Instead of going running to his parents Clawd had taken the time to study the kids. They were really strange, collecting huge mounds of fruits and berries and at point even carrying a large bird through the clearing he had first spotted him. Runaways he had later decided. They'd run away from home and had taken refuge in the forest, though it was a strange retreat to pick considering how deadly the wood could be.

He was confronting them today. He had the panic whistle his mother had given him when she'd caught him seeking into creeper wood the first time, hunting she had presumed (though Clawd didn't plan on correcting her anytime soon). In his rucksack he had some brain puffs and Doritos (the one Normie food the Wolf household stocked with abundance due to Momma Wolfs weakness for them) along with some fizzy drinks, he hoped to bribe the kids into telling how they navigated the forest the way they did.

Deciding to make his entrance, Clawd knocked the tree trunk next to him and waited for them to respond. He didn't have to wait long, the duo immediately spun around and starred with wide eyed horror as they noticed him. Seeing that they were about to leg it Clawd shouted "wait! I just wanna' talk, okay?" He said racing round them cutting off their original bolting direction using the speed associated with the full moon which would rise after sunset. They stumbled backwards and watched with wary eyes, muscles rigid.

"Umm, I have Doritos if you want some?" Clawd asked the girl tentatively, as the boy had slipped behind a tree but was still in the vicinity.

She took the packet and passed back to the boy (her brother? They had the same toxic green eyes so it was safe to assume they were family of some kind). The removal of the chemically cheesy crisps allowed the other 12 year olds scents to wash over gain. He'd been following their scent for weeks now, but it wasn't until he was within meters of the both of them that he was able to really distinguish their scents. The girl smelt of old books, but not the mouldy kind. She smelt like the ones that had a vaguely of vanilla like scent and an undercurrent of wild cherries maybe? The boy was easier to identify. He smelt like the Steins laboratory, like lightning and chemicals blended together.

Puzzled by his strange scent (for a Normie) Clawd looked around the wide trunk the boy had taken refuge behind and was shocked to see what looked like war paint streaked across his face. He blinked and realized that they were too perfect to be war paint. Each streak was the same length as the other and were tilted at identical angles. A third look made him realize that the streaks were also changing colour, in a long steady pulse, going from lime to a seaweed green. _He's a monster?_ He thought. That makes no sense, how can someone so Normie looking be a monster?

"Do you guys speak English? Cause I'm not very good at the whole silent comcation thingie." Clawd asked, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

"Communication." The girl corrected. "Its communication not comcation."

"What?" Clawd responded to the abrupt and rather odd response from the "feral" child.

The boy sniggered from behind his tree and slowly walked around. Now face to face, Clawd was able to see the full scale of the odd streaks on his face. They stretched down and over his shoulders, from the back of his neck all the way along his skinny shoulders and arms. He could also spot them through the gaping holes along his trouser leg so it was safe to assume it went all over. Even his palms had streak with every other finger possessing the colour changing markings. He was also quite small, Clawd noted. Barely up to his shoulders but his skinny frame was made of unusually dense muscle. His hair was dark brown at the roots but lighted into a natural faint blond at the tips. His eyes as noted before were toxic green in colour and intensity. He seemed to be cataloguing Clawd just as he was doing him.

The girl didn't speak up again but the boy did, albeit quite nervously – "My names Ben Tenyson, this is my cousin, Gwen Tenyson." He said gesturing to the girl…Gwen.

"Rhyming names? What were your parents thinking? Then again my parent called me Clawd wolf, with a W rather than a U so I can't really say much." Clawd said with a shrug.

Both sniggered this time with Gwen saying "Wolf, really? Isn't that a bit… obvious?" looking to his canine ears

"Nah, all werewolves' have wolf or dog related last names, my dad was a foster brat so he was given a generic last name of wolf." Clawd said, leaning against a nearby tree, confident that Ben and Gwen were interested enough not sprint off now. "So how long have you guys been in creeper woods?" Clawd asked, carefully casual.

"Creeper woods? Oh, um yeah, were just you know passing through, we're staying with our uncle." Gwen said quickly, lie awkward and cumbersome to the usually very eloquent pre-teen.

"Your uncle? Huh, he not feeding you or something cause that looked like a pretty big bird you dragged back last week?" Clawd replied, disassembling the lie that Gwen had been clumsily forming.

"I, um, well," Gwen stuttered.

"Look you don't have to say you're here but it's dangerous if you don't know what to look out for, like the demon mound on top of rancher hill, you wake that up and fire elementals will go mental. Or the vines'll drag you into quicksand if you step on the wrong root."

The cousins paled slightly clutching the small charms attached to their waists. "So maybe if I tell you what to avoid you meet me here a couple times a week? Maybe show me how to make those funny charms of yours? They look pretty cool."

They cousins smiled hesitantly, glanced at one another and nodded before sitting down with the werewolf.

Hours passed in that time, the Doritos had been finished and Clawd had tried to Berries they had been collecting. Deciding that they were too sweet for his taste Clawd had eaten his own brain puff much to the Tennyson's disgust (plant brains or not, they did not eat brains). Clawd hadn't learnt much about the cousins except that Ben was capable of producing his own signal and could connect to internet without any equipment. Everything else was still a mystery but Clawd was patient, they'd tell him eventually. He garnered their opinions on education – Gwen was a self-professed Geek who loved languages and history like Clawdeen loved Fashion. Ben could only stomach school when sports were involved, though he had a certain fondness for math. This revelation to Clawd teaching them to play a modified version of casket ball, a favourite of his. Eventually the sun began to set and Clawd realized that he had to leave but before he did he found out one very important fact; Ben hadn't been born a monster.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Learning in the home

Clawd arrived at home, just as the pack began to gather for dinner. His two younger sisters were trying to rip each other's hair out, Clawdia (the eldest still at home) was talking in an obnoxiously loud voice across the phones, pouring out the drinks as she ranted about how bad the script for movie she had just seen and what she would have done if she had been writing the scripts. Ignoring the chaos Clawd picked up the plates being served by his mom and dad, putting the dishes on the table.

Eventually the chaos settled down and the Wolf pack was sharing their tales of the day. Still mulling over Ben's bizarre appearance and various subtle clues he'd picked up while talking to the cousins (such as their slightly too skinny frames and implications that living in the forest created), Clawd was uncharacteristically silent. His Dad didn't miss it.

"What about you Clawd?" He asked, looking at his youngest son.

"Oh, nothing much." Clawd said looking up from his pasta which he had been listlessly swirling beforehand. "Actually, I visited the Steins today" he said truthfully (he'd seen them early that morning on his paper delivery route) "do you know they're planning to make a daughter?"

"That's so cool, they'll be able to make her like super pretty!" Howleen piped in. "And Dr. Stien is like super pretty so maybe they'll base her on her."

"She is quite beautiful Howleen but Violet can't simply pick a face close to her own, she'll have to find just the right pieces if she's making her then same way as Frank." Clawd's Mom added. "Pass the water, Clawd."

Clawd obediently passed the water, and spotted the opening he needed. "It's pretty cool that he'll be able to exactly how she became a monster, there'll be like a whole step by step guide. How'd Weres come about?"

"Well depends if you believe the scientific studies or the legends," Dad said, pausing momentarily. To be fair it was an unusually deep question for him to ask. Ordinarily he was usually more interested in casket ball then Species history. "Several studies suggest that we evolved from wolves like humans evolved from apes. Our pack-lore says that several groups of humans, across the world, were so connected to the moon and nature they were blessed by witches and given honour of sharing the burden of the wolf."

"Whoa, so like Casta Fierce could make Normies into werewolves?" Howleen blurted out, some of her steak spitting free.

"It's not that simple dear, Casta is Witch-born but she's not _a_ witch." Mom replied, immediately giving her daughter a napkin.

"What, course Casta's a witch she turned her Boo York audience into snakes last week and her mom's like Circe." Clawdine objected.

"No, Casta is witch-born, this lets her use a certain type of magic, hers being full transfiguration. A Witch is anyone who is capable of using a whole spectrum of magic from potion brewing, to rituals, curses and blessings. A witch hasn't been born for a good six centuries now, with Circe being the last of them I believe." Dad said continuing on for mom. "A witch doesn't have to have monster heritage, in fact most of them a born to human families, it's for that reason why a lot of monsters think that they are no longer appearing."

"What does having Normie parents six hundred years ago have to do with anything?" Clawdia spoke up, for once putting down her i-coffin.

"Well six hundred years ago Normies were a lot more violent towards monsters then they are now. Witches often develop their powers when they are still kids, like a lot of genetic monsters. They'd start with small stuff, like levitation or aurora reading. Their parents would think they were cursed and try to 'fix' the problem. More often than not, the child wouldn't survive but the occasional one did. Some of the older Witches, like Morgana for example, think that the survivors of that time period cursed other witches into losing their magic to stop them from suffering the way they did." His mom explained, the table was unusually silent by this point.

"It wasn't their fault, they were just kids but the consequences hang on, eventually Witches will just disappear altogether." Dad finished uncomfortably. A painful silence fell over the Wolf dining table as each of the kids digested the revelations.

Clawd was more confused than ever, the conversation had taken a turn that was totally at odds with what he planned. Instead of being able to ask if Normies could become any other kind of monster (other than vampire of course) he had learnt about the origins of Witches, while interesting enough didn't explain Ben. He had hoped that by talking about the Steins, he'd discover if anyone had tried to turn a living human into a monster, rather than a dead one.

"Do the Normies know what they did?" Howleen asked quietly, her excitement diminished by the horrific story.

"To a certain, extent, though they're not aware of the extent of the damage they've done." Mom told us sadly.

An idea, though not a very nice one, occurring Clawd queried "Did they ever experiment on the survivor's descendants?"

His parents dropped their cutlery in shock. Looking at their son they asked simultaneously "What hapened?" "Is something going on?"

"Nothing, Nothing I just found a super hero comic one of the Normie campers had dumped on the outskirts of the woods and was curious," Clawd asked hands raised in defence. "I'm serious Mom." They breathed a sigh of relief.

"Most of the survivor's descendants are monitored by the Witches society, in case any of them activate their dormant powers. At least that's what the internet says they do." Clawdia said, holding her i-coffin out as proof.

They finished dinner and Clawd wandered up to his room, it was odd having the room to himself now that his brothers had moved out. Knowing that he wasn't disturbing anyone else he flicked on his desktop computer and began to research.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Wakeup call – re-joining a civilization

They'd been there for nearly a year and a half when Ben and Gwen were forced out of secrecy. The event which lead to their discovery had actually been linked to an attempt to go home. They had gone as far as to tell Clawd that they planned on leaving and that it was unlikely they'd be seeing him after the blue moon that weekend.

Gwen had gotten Clawd to research various collections of published spell books to find one particular ritual – a ritual described as the world traveller. Legend had it that it was how Ghost had first established contact with the living world for the first time millions of years ago. The ritual was had to take place on the evening of a rare celestial event whose date was shared with another cultures celebration, the Weres Blue Moon festival.

"Alight, I've got the frozen rose thingies, the oak, thyme, myrtle and warthy plant. Also I have that weird chalk you needed." Ben said carefully placing each preservative jars on their make shift table.

"They're red blood petals and its Waratah, an aboriginal flower, rumoured to be older than the Greek civilization." She said carefully dissecting the petals and flowers and placing them on specific places on the floor, forming an indistinct pentagon on the clearing's dewy grass. "And that 'weird chalk' is what's going to help us connect our worlds again, it's made from pressurized star dust. It really is quite amazing." Gwen said slightly awed by the stunning smoke like

"Yeah and expensive," Ben said, remembering how much money had to hack out of the Swiss accounts to pay for the chalk. It was probably a good thing they were leaving soon – his online name was drawing in some very unwelcome attention.

Gwen shrugged and began drawing the petal pentagram, with a growing sense of excitement, even Ben was buzzing, moving around the cleared area with the nervous energy of a fly.

"It's done," Gwen said quietly. "Step out of the circle Ben." Taking a deep breath and centering herself, Gwen tapped into the reservoir of energy that seemed to swirl around her.

_Help me stars, creators of life,_

_I am a child of your who has fallen far from home._

_So I ask you, unnamed ones,_

_I give to you my manna in return,_

_Sweet light above answer my plea._

As she recited the words she had scripted herself, the items which had been placed so carefully began to glow as ancient energy began to mount. She felt a glorious bliss take a hold of her as a level of manna flooded her body that she had never been able to channel before. She felt an odd sensation take over as her body began to dissipate.

Ben watched with a combination of awe and worry as Gwen's body disappeared and an indistinct though definitely female of pink purple and black light took her place. A swirling vortex began to open up below her now levitating feet. It was similar to the multi-coloured vortex that had taken them to the parallel earth.

Then something went wrong.

Clawd stared into his drink, two of his closest friends were leaving and by the sounds of it they weren't coming back. His sulking was interrupted by a playful punch to his shoulder. Turning around he found himself staring at one of his oldest friends and childhood pack mate, Romulus. Banishing his unhappy thoughts for a moment, he stood up and greeted him grin.

"Dude long time no see!" Reverting to their old handshake, which he still remembered, somehow.

"No kidding, now what'cha doing sitting in the corner like an old dog lost in la la land?" Romulus shouted with a grin. His posse of friends from Crescent moon High gathered around to meet the only other werewolf in the state that could challenge their Alphas dominance. "It's the blue moon festival, and your parents are thrown' a howlin' party."

"Aww, couple of friends are leavin' in the next couple days, gonna miss them is all." He replied good naturedly, not at all intimidated by Romulus attempt at instating dominance. Any fears had been completely eliminated after seeing Gwen go kick ass on Demon the month before. Of course a deep stated fear of small badass bookworms had developed in its place. But you know, there can't be that many of them, can there?

"Aww, is one of your hippie friends leaving to spread some more interspecies peace?" Romulus teased, his opinion of the all-accepting school already well known. He was fine with getting along with most species but putting some breeds together was just asking for trouble in his opinion.

"They ain't hippies, jerk. I still don't get why you rag on my school so much, didn't our inter-species school kick your selective schools butt the other week?" Clawd said with a smug tone, as he should do considering he helped bring that victory in – despite his freshman status

"Hah, you guys were lucky. When I'm head of the casket ball team you're gonna be buried in my dust." Romulus said, with his normal posturing.

Their banter was interrupted when the fence of his back garden was smashed open by bolt of electricity. The visiting pack were immediately growling and had moved protectively in front of their pups. Romulus's dad in front of Clawd and Romulus's pack but when the familiar stench of Ben electricity reached him, he zipped forward.

"Clawd! Clawd! You gotta help!" Ben screamed with deep seated terror in his voice. His eyes swung wildly around the throng of aggressive werewolves until he spotted his friend.

"Whoa! Dude, breathe your scarring my parents!" Clawd shouted spotting the warning signs in his father's posture. In a rare show of dominance, he forced some of the adults who had been trying to block his way, to move, breaking free of the crowd. Moving slowly towards his terrified friend, he made soothing gestures in an attempt to calm him down.

The wild, sporadic spinning of Ben's eyes stopped once they locked gazes, but the spasm of his muscles did not. "Tell what happened Ben, I can't help if I got no clue how." His friend wasn't very visible in the dim light of the garden lanterns and clouded moon, so he could see why his parents wanted to attack his friend so he had to slow him down.

Ben breathed in and shuddered out ragged breath "Gwen." He said eyes, wide with horror. "She's being ripped apart!"

Ben knew something was wrong. Gwen's ecstatic smile was fading fast her lips twisting as if she was in pain. The portal continued to swirl beneath her feet but instead of luminous blue ringed in white it began to turn green, streaks of yellows flickering through like lighting. Ben had just began to analyse his cousin, using some software he'd developed, when he felt Gwen scream. Her scream rocked through the forest, a palatable rush of fear following it crescendo leaving his head swimming, as he staggered back up to his feet he felt his stomach upheave itself and pour out onto the floor beside him.

Where before Gwen had been floating vertically, almost dancing around the circle now she lay on her back, limbs taught and eyes rolling in her head. Hand like beams began to stretch up from the portal only to be beaten back by a pink sphere of energy that formed the moment they came too close. Ben wasn't sure the hands were entirely sentient but they were certainly able to identify prey. After giving up on Gwen, temporarily Ben assumed, they began to stretch towards. Ben was frozen in place and when no pink shield came to protect him he felt his side seize with pain as the hands began to physically _drag_ something out of him. When it was fully removed Ben was shocked to see the scrambling and screeching form of Ghost Freak, who was promptly swallowed within the swirling vortex his unearthly wail echoing all around. Though the hands seemed unsatisfied with their meal, reaching out for him again. Knowing the kind of pain that those hands held in store Ben fought back for the first time, his green markings glowing with energy and filling the entirety of his eye with the same intense neon green his body was glowing with. From above several, laser-like blasts shot down from the heaven and one satellite fell straight out of orbit, falling with the power of a meteorite, flames bursting to life as it hurtled towards the ground. With a great deal of effort Ben stopped the descent and began to rearrange the satellite, hoping to weaponize the aged, and previously innocent, navigation satellite into something useful. It was hard going dodging the blazing palms and building his weapon an in the process lost two more forms (upchuck and Stinkfly) he now had three red claw scar marks branded upon his torso, upper thigh and shoulder, which did nothing for his concentration. Every couple of minutes or so, nearly unbearable pain would shoot through his veins, making it feel like he'd been set on fire. But eventually he finished building his weapon and levelled the barrel at hands, which wavered a few vital moments giving ben enough time to charge and shoot his weapon. A net of condensed electricity blanketed the portal and thankfully Ben hypothesis held true and the overloading energy caused the portal to short circuit for lack of a better analogy. Sighing dropped the converted machine, heedless of the racket (for once).

His relief was soon proven to be short lived, when Gwen's body did not float downwards as he had assumed she would. Instead she hung in the air, limbs twisted at awkward angels and her eyes glazed. The only real sign of life Ben could even really identify was the erratic beating of her heart and her the sound of her laboured breathing. He tried to grab her only to be repelled by the same shield that had kept the hands at bay. He was stuck watching as his cousin, his only family in the strange divided world where nothing made all that much sense to him. With all of his options severed Ben, in his less than lucid state of recurring pain, fear and adrenaline, made a choice and began to run in the direction he'd seen Clawd walk towards hundreds of times before.

To say the situation was tense, was the understatement of the undead millennia. Clawd stood protectively in front of a twitching Ben as three full grown and matured alphas (including his own father) stared him down. Clawd steeled himself with the knowledge that Ben was obviously terrified and since the guy was paranoid at the best of times, literally throwing him to wolves would be an idea of such horrific proportions in could be compared to Armageddon.

"Clawd, step aside." His father hissed, yellow eyes burning with the power that only a werewolf that had once lead the New York wolf contingent could.

Clawd could not speak, he physically could not, but he was able to gather his strength to shake his head, trying hard to keep eye contact. It was exhausting.

"Please, you have to help they did something to-"Ben attempted to speak only be silenced when his wounds began to pulse with a ferocity that had him falling to floor and clawing at his own face. At which point, the other wolves spotted the war paint markings that marked his cheeks, though the intensity of their colour seemed to be fading, which sent another rush of fear straight to Clawd's gut.

"Stand aside," His father ordered again. This time Clawd couldn't help but give in, unwillingly stepping aside, and looking away submissively. This seemed to soothe some of the visiting Alpha's pride, but his dad paid no mind to gesture, he simply stepped forward and grabbed the convulsing boy's hands, which were now stained red from his own self-inflicted wounds. "Stop," he ordered the boy and was relieved to see that his authoritative tone seemed to reach some instinctive part of him, causing him to cease struggling. Clawd was a little shocked to realise that Ben's sent was shifting, right before their noses. It became more wolf-like and Clawd knew his Dad had noticed but seemed content to let it slide for the moment.

"Is it poison?" Clawd whispered fearfully, bending down to support Bens shuddering form. He looked like he was in agony.

"I don't know but… Howleen," Dad said looking up and catching his youngest daughter's eyes. "I need you to get Dr Stein, Remus can you call an ambulance?" Dad, as he always did in the middle of a crisis, naturally fell into the role of leader easily.

"Got it!" Howleen shouted back, already running –there kindly neighbours didn't sleep much, so hopefully they'd be back quickly.

"Lupe can you?" Dad asked Mom, who nodded and with the help of several other wolves pinned the trashing boy down, minimizing the damage he could do to himself.

Clawd took his father's lead and stood up, following him as he began to gather up the more experienced trackers and hunters present at their Blue Moon Festival.

"Dad I can help," Clawd told his Dad imploringly, grabbing a hold of the back of his jacket.

"Not a chance," Dad shut him down with a growl. "There is no way on the Goddesses clear soul am I letting you go into creeper woods after dark, during a blue moon, you are staying here and joining your friend at the hospital."

"I know the forest better, plus there's no way you'll find their camp without me." Clawd yelled back, terror tinging his voice as particular realizations dawned on him – whatever attacked Ben could still be attacking Gwen.

"The hell are you talking about?" Uncle Ulrich growled, brow furrowed in confusion – why the hell wouldn't they be able to find a camp a pair of teenagers made?

"Gwen did something to the outskirts of their camp, whenever anyone new comes across it they get sent round in circles, you need to have been shown the camp to get there." Clawd explained begging his father to understand, if they didn't let him go, they might not find her in time.

Dad glanced to Uncle Ulrich and stared intensely at him for a few, brutal, moments before nodding sharply. "You keep and stay close." After which he let loose and ear-splitting howl, electrifying the air. At Dad's signalled the chosen hunters and trackers ran into the forest following Ben's distinct scent trail deep into the woods.

The further they ran into the forest the more indistinct the scent became until eventually the hunting party was forced into a standstill when the scent seemed to split and go in a thousand different directions. His son however did not stop, simply powered through eyes focused on something only he seemed to see in the distance. Trusting his gut, Raul followed his son, keeping careful track of they're path. His definitive support, seemed to give other more sceptical members of their group more confidence and before they knew it they found themselves in what had to be the teen's camp.

"Gwen!" Clawd yelled when a floating girl came into view, only to be flung back bodily, landing with heavy thumps upon the ground. Raul stopped dead, the action causing a cloud of dust to lift off the floor and began to evaluate his surroundings. The camp was pretty sophisticated for a couple of kids. There was a living space built into a large uprooted tree, offering round the year protection from all kinds of weather. There was a pit dug out on the outskirts of the camp, hanging from a tree was some kind of water cleanser built from various natural materials and towards the middle of the clearing was a bunch of cobbled together computers that seemed to be functioning just fine despite the lack of any source of electricity. The strangest by far though was what lay around the girl his son was so focused on saving.

A pretty girl, by human standards, though her hair was matted and a little grimy, her hair still blazed a brilliant reddish gold and her skin was tanned, though littered with several small ash coloured scars. Granted, her limbs were twisted at some nauseating angles, whilst she floated peaceably, her chest rising and falling steadily. Her heart beat was also a little too slow for a girl of her age.

The strange thing was the odd pentagram that was drawn onto the earth below her. At each point was a glowing jar, shining too brightly for him to identify any of their contents.

"By the Moon," Ulrich swore when he got a good look at her.

"No kidding, Clawd, what's going on?" Raul asked turning to his twitching son.

"I don't know, they said they were going home tonight, they were, they were really happy," Clawd replied brokenly. They all stared in silence at the girl for a few moments before Clawd seemed to pull himself together and stood up, once again heading over to the girl – Gwen – though slower this time.

When he was practically underneath her again, Clawd spoke.

"Gwen? Gwen can you hear me?" He called softly, and unlikely as it seemed, it did stir a response. Her head seem to tilt slightly, her limbs began to slowly revert to more normal angles. Raul motioned for silence from the other wolves, though he maintained his vigilance.

"Gwen, you need to come back now," Clawd said, ever so slowly reaching for her hand. At first he came up against resistance the pink light flaring viciously, causing Clawd to grit his teeth, but he pushed forward and continued to reach until it gave way. Now holding her hand, Clawd proceeded to just as slowly as before began to pull her down until she was level with the floor.

"Gwen," Clawd whispered so quietly, Raul struggled to hear it.

"I just wanted us to go home," Gwen cried quietly as her shield shattered utterly as did various other sphere's covering the camp. Clawd tried to cradle her but found that he was still a little too small to carry Gwen, without causing her to whimper in pain. Logan, a huge visiting Delta from the Los Angeles Pack and took her off the 14 year old, nodding respectfully. Logan found it much easier to carry her, taking care to cradle her neck in such a way that her injuries weren't further aggravated.

"Logan, can you and Clawd take her back to my house, the ambulance should have arrived by now." Raul commanded quietly. Both Clawd and Logan nodded and took off back home.


End file.
